JUDGE TAKES IT EASY ON POT GROWERS

Government's Actions In Use Of Investigator For Attorney Required Leniency,
Zilly Says

SEATTLE -- A federal judge showed his dislike Friday for tactics
investigators used last year to dismantle a large marijuana-growing ring
and gave the group's leaders a break in their sentences.

Gregory Haynes, 37, and James Denton, 56, both of Eastern Washington,
earlier this year pleaded guilty to conspiracy and money laundering charges
in a case that involved hidden pot farms near Stanwood and Moses Lake.

The pair had faced seven to 10 years in prison.

But U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly said he found aspects of the
government's investigation troubling, and sentenced them to six years
behind bars.

He also said Haynes and Denton could remain free, pending appeal.

The case presented "some of the most difficult and unusual, and frankly,
disturbing facts and circumstances" he'd ever seen, Zilly said.

Federal prosecutors last summer charged Haynes, Denton and six others after
law officers unearthed a large pot farm in five shipping containers buried
beneath a Grant County alfalfa field. The investigation began in 1994,
after a fire at another large pot farm the group operated near Stanwood.

Attorneys for Haynes and Denton tried to have the charges thrown out,
claiming a violation of the attorney-client relationship.

The Snohomish Regional Narcotics Task Force and the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration were assisted in the investigation by Dale
Fairbanks, a former private investigator based in Everett.

Some of the investigation's targets had previously been represented by Mark
Mestel, an Everett defense attorney for whom Fairbanks had regularly worked
as an investigator.

Zilly said he was troubled by Fairbanks' involvement, including the
government's decision to pay him $150,000 for his work.

The judge in February ruled the defendants couldn't claim attorney-client
privilege, in part because they had conspired to have Mestel file
fraudulent documents in an attempt to mislead the government about who
bankrolled the Stanwood-area operation.

At the time, Zilly also said the government legitimately investigated
continuing criminal activity and took steps to make sure that Fairbanks'
involvement did not violate the attorney-client relationship.

But on Friday, he said Haynes and Denton deserved leniency in sentencing
because of the government's actions.

The tactic of using a defense investigator as a government informant was
"highly unusual, and hopefully never to be seen again in this district, or
elsewhere," Zilly said.

"I think the judge based his ruling on the evidence he heard," Fairbanks
said when told of Zilly's comments.

Fairbanks in February testified tearfully that he decided to assist the
government in its investigation after Haynes attempted to recruit him into
criminal activity and used him as a conduit for sending Mestel small
amounts of marijuana.

Haynes also testified about the drug deliveries, but said Mestel didn't ask
him to send the pot, and never acknowledged receiving any.

Mestel testified that Haynes sent him marijuana, but added that he never
kept the drug.

Haynes' attorney, Allen Ressler of Seattle, told Zilly that drug detectives
had been after Mestel, and that's why they recruited Fairbanks.

"That appears to be an ongoing issue for them, because they contacted us in
recent days" and offered leniency for Haynes if he'd testify against
Mestel, Ressler told the judge.

It will be at least a year before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
rules on Haynes' and Denton's appeals, lawyers said.

As part of their plea, the pair agreed to forfeit to the government their
interest in more than $2 million worth of businesses and property they
admitted purchasing with drug money.